The present invention relates to a storage package for a recording medium, such as a compact disc, and more particularly to such a storage package which is formed of a plurality of non-plastic panels and a plastic holder.
The term "recording medium" as used herein and in the claims broadly encompasses any medium on which information may be digitally recorded, regardless of whether the recorded data represents text, images, audio, video, binary data, or combinations thereof. The common recording media are compact discs (CD's) which in turn encompass a wide variety of digitally encoded recording media including the common CD (with an outer diameter of 4.7 inches), smaller versions thereof (including the mini- and micro-discs) as well as larger versions thereof, and CD-ROM's, whether blank or prerecorded, and whether read only or read/write in nature.
Commonly assigned U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 07/698,201, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,405, Ser. No. 07/807,477 and Ser. No. 07/817,897, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,230 disclose storage packages for a recording medium. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference as fully as if they were set out herein.
Each of the three storage packages comprises a plurality of non-plastic (typically paperboard) panels movable between an open orientation enabling access to the contempts of the package and a collapsed orientation for storage purposes. The plurality of panels includes a pair of end panels and optionally one or more panels intermediate the end panels. Each of the panels has a generally planar and a generally rectangular panel body, a pair of opposed transverse panel ends, and a pair of opposed lateral panel sides. The storage package additionally comprises a holder formed of plastic disposed on one of the panels for receiving and maintaining thereon a recording medium such as a compact disc (CD). The holder has a generally planar and generally rectangular holder body, a pair of opposed lateral holder sides, and a pair of opposed transverse holder ends.
More particularly, in the storage package of application Ser. No. 07/698,201, the holder includes a tray adapted to releasably receive the recording medium thereon and a base in telescopic relation with the tray. The holder is movable from a spanning configuration wherein the base and the tray are substantially untelescoped to a telescoped configuration wherein the base and the tray are substantially overlying. The holder is useful in an ecologically and economically desirable package which is switchable from an extended blank orientation, through an intermediate display orientation, to a collapsed home orientation. The package in the extended blank orientation has each of the sections disposed in a common plane, in the collapsed home orientation has each of the sections substantially overlying with the holder disposed in the telescoped configuration, and in the intermediate display orientation has sections disposed in first and second planes with the holder disposed in an intermediate plane in the spanning configuration to preclude folding the package into the collapsed home configuration prior to movement of the holder to the telescoped configuration. In the intermediate display orientation, the package is about twice as long as it is in the collapsed home orientation so that it cannot easily be concealed in a pocket by a shoplifter. A non-pivotable end cap is disposed on one of the end panels and is adapted to releasably engage the holder when the plurality of panels is in the collapsed orientation, thereby to preclude accidental movement of the plurality of panels out of the collapsed orientation.
In the storage package of application Ser. No. 07/807,477, the holder is of one-piece construction and the various major parts thereof are not in telescopic relationship, and the package has no intermediate display orientation.
The storage package of application Ser. No. 07/817,897 is similar to that of the preceding application except that the end cap is pivotally disposed on the holder and is preferably an actual part thereof connected to the remainder by a living hinge. The pivotable end cap makes the storage package easier to open than the earlier packages or the conventional "jewel box" package.
The present invention is directed to improvements in the aforementioned packages and, although the improvements will be described in connection with the package on the last filed application, Ser. No. 07/817,897, it should be appreciated that the improvements thereof may be provided in the packages of the two earlier filed applications as well.
The storage packages of the aforementioned application, like the conventional storage packages for compact discs, are not square in plan view, but rather rectangular, having a pair of opposed transverse panel ends shorter than the pair of opposed lateral panel sides. The packages of the aforementioned applications provide at least one paperboard spine on a short transverse end of the package. The spine extends the full thickness of the plurality of panels in the collapsed orientation and is a convenient and economical place to identify by printed indicia the subject matter of the recording medium and the like. However the disposition of the spine on a short transverse end of the package does not permit as much information to be disposed thereon as would be the case if the spine were disposed on a longer lateral side. But these longer lateral sides are defined by a plastic holder and thus are not readily and economically suitable for imprinting with information, especially multi-color information. Nonetheless, display and storage devices for holding a plurality of the storage packages are now being manufactured which have a long lateral side of the package either as visible to the viewer as the short transverse end thereof or even exclusively visible. Thus, it is desirable, if not mandatory, that a storage package suitable for use in such a device be provided with a lateral side spine which is visible when the plurality of panels is in the collapsed orientation and which may easily and economically be imprinted with information (that is, have a non-plastic surface).
The storage packages of the aforementioned applications provide large areas of coated paperboard which may conveniently be imprinted with text, images, and the like so that the manufacturer can impart information, advertising and the like to the purchaser. However, it has been found that frequently the quality of information which the manufacturer wishes to impart to the purchaser exceeds that which will fit on the panel faces. Thus, the manufacturer may put the information in a booklet which is disposed within the storage package at the time of sale. While the booklet could be inserted loosely intermediate the panels of the package, care had to be taken that it did not contact and possibly damage the surfaces of the recording medium, for example, the top and bottom surfaces of a compact disc. Additionally, if the booklet were simply placed intermediate the panels of the package, there was a tendency for the booklet to become lost when the package was put in the open orientation and there was then nothing holding the booklet to the package. Thus, there is a need for a storage package which will contain a compartment for a booklet so that the booklet remains removably "connected" to the package (unless intentionally removed) where it cannot damage the recording medium (that is, it is not in contact with the recording medium).
The packages of the aforementioned applications represent significant ecological advances relative to the conventional CD "jewel box" package and, indeed, most other packaging heretofore suggested for CD's. However, in certain highly ecologically-minded countries, there is a requirement that plastic and paper materials be separated from one another prior to disposal. It can readily be appreciated that this presents a substantial problem where the plastic and paperboard portions of a storage package are glued or otherwise adhered together, through the use of glues, adhesives or the like, as the plastic and paperboard components are no longer easily separable. Thus, the need remains for packaging wherein the plastic and paperboard components are not glued or adhered together and are easily separable.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a storage package for a recording medium which has a paperboard lateral spine which can be easily and economically imprinted with identifying indicia.
Another object is to provide a storage package which provides a compartment for releasably holding a booklet and maintaining the booklet away from the recording medium.
A further object is to provide a storage package wherein the plastic components (i.e., the holder or holder and end cap) are releasably secured to the non-plastic component (i.e, the paperboard panels) and easily removable therefrom.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a storage package which in preferred embodiments incorporates one or more of the features described above, for example, an imprinted lateral spine, a booklet compartment, and an easily releasable attachment of the plastic and non-plastic components.
It is a further object to provide such a package which in preferred embodiments may be used in conjunction with new devices for the storage and display of packages wherein the lateral spine of the package is (exclusively or non-exclusively) visible, which enables the manufacturer to safely provide the user with a removable booklet of printed information, and which facilitates an ecologically desirable separation between the plastic and non-plastic components thereof.
It is another object to provide such a package which is economical to manufacture and easy to use.